It’s that time of year where we get to have a little fun in the kitchen as things start to get a little spooky. With Halloween just around the corner, I just can’t help myself, every year I like to come up with at least one new Halloween inspired recipe (check out the collection from over the years). With a little less time on my hands this October though, I knew that I wanted something that would be quick & easy to make, the sort of thing you could make last minute before settling down to a scary film or to round off a Halloween feast.
That led me to one of the quickest sweet treats I know how to make, hot chocolate. Except, there’s nothing particularly spooky about hot chocolate… until now! I wondered if there was a way that I could turn my cauldron of chocolate into something more ghoulish looking, like warm, dripping blood. Where there’s a will, there’s way! Generally speaking though, I’m not a big fan of artificial things in my kitchen… thing’s like fondant & food colourings, so how could I possibly turn my humble hot chocolate into a glorious shade of blood red naturally? I thought I’d try the same method I use for my naturally coloured, red velvet cake which relies on beetroot to bring it’s naturally red hues, not to mention adding a lovely earthy sweetness. After trying out beetroot juices alone, in the end I decided to go full red velvet & add beetroot puree straight in there. The result tastes exactly like my favourite red velvet cake, it’s sweet, earth & very moreish. A bit of an alternative hot chocolate which borders a line somewhere between smoothie & hot chocolate but trust me when I say that this works & is absolutely delicious!
RED VELVET HOT CHOCOLATE
(makes 4-6 mugs, easily halved)
Ingredients:
- 500ml milk
- 250g dark chocolate (70%)
- 325g beetroot purée
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 3-4 tbsp honey
- A few drops of red food colouring if desired
Method:
- Put the milk & chocolate into a small saucepan & gently heat
- Stir the mixture continuously until all of the chocolate has melted into the milk
- Add the beetroot puree, spices & honey to sweeten as desired into the pan & continue to heat for a further few minutes until steaming
- Divide the red velvet hot chocolate up between individual mugs to serve
